Recovery/backup how to?
Trumandrummer
Taylor Michigan Icrontian
Hey, i just got this lap top for christmas and when i turned it on it started up asking if i want to create a back up for a recovery on drive D instead of C (recovery drive)
but being all excited about it, i just wanted to use the computer and i pressed cancel
but now i would like to back it up so i could have a safe recover if ever needed
but i dont know the first thing about it, or where to start
can anyone help me out?:smiles:
but being all excited about it, i just wanted to use the computer and i pressed cancel
but now i would like to back it up so i could have a safe recover if ever needed
but i dont know the first thing about it, or where to start
can anyone help me out?:smiles:
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You can look through your Start Menu for a shortcut to the wizard that will start the disc creation process.
Which computer and model is it? We can look it up for you if you can't find it in the Start Menu.
and do i create a backup disc or create a back up file for the recovery drive?
my lap top didnt come with an xp cd, and when i turned it on it said i can back it up and make a recovery drive........
when i go to my computer there is 2 hardrives (i think it might just be one with a partition) but one is only like 11gb the only thing in it is a recovery folder
EDIT: when i got into the D drive there is one folder called Recovery with a lock as the icon
when i click the folder it opens up with nothing in it but the big "hp logo" and it says "this folder contains important file for backing up your computer. any change to this partition could prevent any recovery later"
but there are no files, even though i have all hidden files an folders turned on.
Were you not able to find a shortcut in your Start Menu for running the recovery discs creation utility?
umm yea well i think i figured out how to back it up, but the D drive (partition) says its only 11.5 gb and the back up is 41gb because that how much i have used............
i dont think it is going to work is it?
What's the name of the utility you are looking at for "backing up"? You may not have found the recovery disc set creation utility yet...
i dont know, i right clicked my C drive and went to properies , tools, backup, "all info on this computer"
lol ok i have an hp pavilion dv9008nr entertainment pc............ is that what you needed?
The Backup and Recovery section HERE covers creating recovery discs. (You'll need a PDF file reader for this link. (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader)) :smiles:
this explains a lot to me :smiles: ill just create a set of back up cds
one thing i dont get, what is the partition for then? because if its for documents isnt that pointless? because like you had said, if the hard-drive goes so does th partition
earlier when trying to back things up (the wronge way) it said the drive D was fat32 and that it would only allow 4gb and to change it........ so i formated the partition to ntfs
now when i go to make a set of recovery discs it says that the recovery partition could not be found............
ooops:shakehead
earlier when trying to back things up (the wronge way) it said the drive D was fat32 and that it would only allow 4gb and to change it........ so i formated the partition to ntfs
now when i go to make a set of recovery discs it says that the recovery partition could not be found............
:shakehead
PS://
I don't think you actually formatted the partition. Rather, I think you converted it from FAT32 to NTFS. (That's a one way street, BTW, unless you have special software.) If you look, you'll see the files are still there. Still, the recovery utility doesn't know what to do w/ NTFS. That's why it doesn't work.
so those are programs i can get? how much would they cost?
and the software will just backup my whole hardrive
because i have a 250gb external hardrive that is pretty much untouched that im sure i could store stuff on (like backups) if needed
Well i right clicked and click format to NTFS, it took about 15 min, and now when i click on the d drive, there is no more recovery folder, D is just blank
You can image directly to your external HDD. I recommend you split the image into 4.25GB file sizes then burn the set to DVDs. You should format your external HDD to NTFS to support the larger file sizes, too.
Acronis Disk Director is a very good disc management utility. You could use windows disc management for this, too though. (Your options are severely limited using windows disc management utility and it's very slow.)
EDIT://
And, yes, if the files are gone from the D partition then you did, indeed, format it (as opposed to convert the file system from FAT32 to NTFS)
can i buy this from a store like best buy or circuit city, or do i order it online....
well i got my external already formated as an NFTS, so that means when i get that program i can just run it and it will pretty much be self explainatory?
it will do a full copy of the drive so the file would end up being about 41 gb (that how much is used on mine) right? and spliting them into 4.25 gb sizes is that easy, or no?
can i back up JUST THE OS or do i have to back up everything, all 40gb?
thanks, so much......... you are a big help
i clicked backup and i backup everything all 41gb to my external HDD
i also created a "bootable rescue media disc" but im not sure what that is.
upon creating the disc it had two things, safe version and full version
full version was 41gb (so it must have been like everything on my computer)
but i unchecked that and did safe version only and it was only 16mb? so i dont know what this disc is gonna do...........
also you said i can just back up the OS with this, because i dont want to try and put 41gb on discs, lol just the os would be good too........
but i just found out today that my lap top came with windows vista free....... so it dont matter that much, man i cant wait lol :Rocker:
This is so that you can burn your image to DVDs
I highly recommend you do this as your external HDD can fail as well.
The safest place to have your HDD image is on DVDs
Just burn each 4.25GB sized file to a DVD. Label the DVDs w/ the date you created the image and the number the file is in the split. The file split number will be appended to the end of your image file name.) For instance, this is how I label my images: B1-20070122A.tib "B1"=the computer name (Bench-1). 20070122=the date I created the image. "A"=the 1st image I created that day. When I split this image, Acronis will name the split files B1-20070122A1.tib, B1-20070122A2.tib, etc. For safe keeping, you burn each one of these files to a DVD. Keep these image files on DVD along w/ your Acronis True Image boot CD and you have your system recovery set. Viola!
Also, make sure that you always "Validate" the image after you have created it. You want to make sure the image is viable b4 putting it away for Safe keeping. Finding out the image is corrupted when you're trying to restore your system from a crash, etc., is not something you want to go through. That enables you to run Acronis True Image from bootable CD
If your HDD fails, you'll need this CD in order to restore the image. The full version gives you some functionality re: input devices, networking, etc. that the Safe version doesn't. Some computers won't get along well w/ the full version and you'll have to run ATI using the Safe version. (I have this problem on one of my systems) Keep the Full version CD as it will give you the safe version option as well. Make sure you test it by placing it in your DVD drive and rebooting your computer. Make sure it boots to the DVD ok and that Acronis True Image user interface comes up. Try selecting Full version to get into Acronis True Image off of the CD. If that doesn't work, you'll have to use the Safe version. That's ok, though. You'll still be able to create & restore images w/ the CD fine. I think you misunderstood me (or I misunderstood you). You can backup data files and folders you choose if you like. Backing up your OS &/or program files directories will do you no good. For backing up your system build, you need to create the HDD image. (Remember imaging and data back up are two different animals) I strongly recommend that you create a fresh image of your HDD before you upgrade your OS to Vista (or b4 anytime you intend to make significant changes to your HDD build.) Upgrading your OS to a new version or different OS is a significant change. Anything could happen. Imaging your HDD before-hand gives you a safe place to go back to if the upgrade goes wrong.
well i didnt end up creating a full version of the disc, i only made it a safe version.
i didnt split the images i only have one blank dvd left, and a bunch f cds but that could take way to many cds, so it looks like im gonna have to go buy some and do it..
but will the program actually burn it, or does it have to save each 4 gb file and then i burn it. my question is, can i take the 41gb file and split that or do i have to do it all over?
yea, i wanted to use that, but i messed up and formated the partition that had the recovery info saved on it. so when i run that program it cannot find the recovery file, so it wont work for me.:shakehead
but this program is good, works for me
one thing i was wondering, when i get windows vista shipped to me and i install it, will i loose everything off this computer...........
if so the HDD image i made, i can use that to get my files but not change the OS back to xp?
When you install Vista (which I would not do if your PC is running well as is) it will likely be an upgrade installation, which should keep the rest of your installed programs and such.
Following is how to image your HDD using Acronis True Image Workstation version 9.1
(e.g. [F:\LT HDD Image\[name of file].tib] Where "F" is an arbitrary drive letter I chose to represent your external HDD.)